Product authenticity verification system

ABSTRACT

A system and method for determining authenticity and authorized possessorship of an item that includes operations of determining a watermark comprised of one or more variations of a set of characteristics integrated into composition of the item, requesting confirmation of authenticity from an authenticity verification service that the determined watermark corresponds to an authentic, registered item, and, in response to the request for confirmation of authenticity, receiving an indication of authenticity of the item and an indication of possessor ship based at least in part on the determined watermark. Further including a system and method for obtaining a blueprint for producing the item, determining the watermark for the item, producing the item with the watermark according to the blueprint, and registering the watermark and at least one authorized possessor of the item with the authenticity verification service of a computing resource service provider.

BACKGROUND

Trademark infringement, counterfeiting, and other intellectual propertyviolations by producers of illegitimate consumer goods is a rampantproblem in many parts of the world. Furthermore, the complexity,quality, and variety of products produced through three-dimensionalprinting and on-demand manufacturing continues to increase.Consequently, as three-dimensional printers become increasinglyubiquitous among consumers, the potential for unlawful replication ofauthentic products by these devices will also increase. Visuallydetermining whether a product has been unlawfully manufactured orwhether an article has been stolen is often difficult, and, therefore,manufacturers and consumers are in need of an efficient system todetermine whether a product is authentic and in the possession of itsrightful owner or other authorized user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure will bedescribed with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of scanning a possessor and an item forauthenticity verification in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of producing a particular item with awatermark in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram that illustrates an example of producing aparticular item in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart that illustrates an example of performingauthenticity verification using information about the product and thepossessor in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart that illustrates an example of itemidentification in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart that illustrates an example of scanning an itemand possessor for authenticity verification in accordance with anembodiment; and

FIG. 7 illustrates an environment in which various embodiments can beimplemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, various embodiments will be described. Forpurposes of explanation, specific configurations and details are setforth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments.However, it will also be apparent to one skilled in the art that theembodiments may be practiced without the specific details. Furthermore,well-known features may be omitted or simplified in order not to obscurethe embodiment being described.

Techniques described and suggested include a system and method forproducing an on-demand manufacturing product, such as an object printedwith a three-dimensional printer, with an identifying watermark usableto verify authenticity of an item. The system and method includeobtaining a blueprint containing instructions for producing the product.The blueprint may additionally contain instructions for producing awatermark for the product that can operate to distinguish the productuniquely from other objects of the same type. The watermark may beeffected by varying one or more physical characteristics of the productand may be designed to blend in with the design or construction of theproduct such that at least a portion of the watermark may not beapparent to an unaugmented human eye.

The particular product may be produced to have the watermark, and thevariations of the physical characteristics of the product that make upthe watermark may be translated into an item identifier for theparticular product. The particular product may then be registered withan authenticity verification service of a computing resource serviceprovider by storing the item identifier in a data store of theauthenticity verification service. Additionally, the owner of theparticular product and/or other individuals may be registered with theauthenticity verification service as being authorized to possess theparticular product.

Techniques described and suggested further include a system and methodfor verifying the authenticity of such products. Such system and methodinclude using a scanning device to obtain product data by scanning theproduct and providing the product data to an authenticity verificationservice. Based on the product data, the watermark may be located, andthe watermark may be translated to obtain the item identifier for theparticular product. If the watermark is unable to be located ortranslated, it may be because the particular product is not authentic,and the system may perform various actions in such an event (e.g., trackthe occurrence, notify relevant authorities, send an alert to thescanning device, etc.).

The system and method further includes providing identifying informationabout the possessor of the product to the authenticity verificationservice. The authenticity verification service may refer to its datastore to determine whether the possessor of the product is authorized topossess the product (e.g., product owner or other individual that hasbeen granted permission to possess the product). If the possessor is anauthorized possessor, the system may respond with an indication that thepossessor is an authorized possessor of the authentic item. If thepossessor is not an authorized possessor of the product, the system mayrespond with an indication that the product is authentic, but that thepossessor is unauthorized to possess it. Note, however, that a validwatermark with an unauthorized possessor may, in some embodiments,indicate inauthenticity of the product, such as when the product wasproduced using an unauthorized copy of a blueprint for producing theproduct.

The described and suggested techniques improve the field of productauthenticity verification, by providing an authenticity service forregistering authentic products produced by on-demand manufacturingdevices, verifying the authenticity of such products, and verifyingauthorized possessors of those products. Additionally, the described andsuggested techniques improve the ability of law enforcement andtrademark holders to identify and track the source of counterfeittrademark items. Moreover, the described and suggested techniques offermeaningful advantages over other methods by providing a system wherebyconsumers can verify, using a ubiquitous device, such as a cellulartelephone, whether products possessed or sold by other individuals aregenuine items.

FIG. 1 illustrates an aspect of an environment 100 in which anembodiment may be practiced. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the environment100 may include a possessor 102 of an item 104 where there may be aquestion regarding the item's authenticity (or genuineness). The itemand/or possessor may be scanned with a scanning device 108, and data foridentifying the item 104 and data for identifying the possessor 102 maybe provided to an authenticity verification service 106 of a computingresource service provider. A distributed computing system 112 at theauthenticity verification service may analyze the data for identifyingthe item 104 to determine an identifier that uniquely identifies theitem 104 and, if provided, may analyze the data for identifying thepossessor 102 to determine, with reference to a data store 110 at theauthenticity verification service 106, an identity of the possessor 102.With reference again to the data store 110, the authenticityverification service 106 may determine whether the item 104 is anauthentic (also referred to as genuine) item registered with theauthenticity verification service 106 and, if the item 104 is anauthentic item, may determine whether the possessor 102 is registered asan authorized possessor of the authentic item. A response 114 may beprovided to the scanning device 108 reflecting whether the item 104 isrecognized and authentic and whether the possessor 102 is registered asauthorized to possess the item 104.

Although depicted in FIG. 1 as a shirt, the item 104 may be any itemthat may be manufactured to have a watermark recognizable by thescanning device 108. Examples of such items include articles of clothing(e.g., shirts, scarves, handbags, eyewear, footwear, jewelry, etc.),figurines, electronics and machine parts (e.g., speakers, prosthetics,gears, etc.), houses, and food. Note that if the item 104 is notmanufactured to have a watermark, verification of authenticity by thescanning device 108 may return a message to the effect that the item 104is not genuine, that the watermark 118 could not be found, that the item104 is not recognized, or that the item 104 is not an item that can beregistered with the authenticity verification service 106.

The possessor 102 may be an authorized owner of the item 104, anindividual other than the owner who is authorized to possess the item104, or an individual that is not registered as being authorized topossess the item 104. If the item 104 contains a watermark recognizableby the scanning device 108, it may be confirmed whether the possessor102 is registered (i.e., recorded with the authenticity verificationservice 106) as an authorized possessor of the item 104. In someexamples, an “authorized possessor” may refer to an individual who isregistered with the authenticity verification service 106 as beingauthorized to possess the item 104 associated with the identifyingwatermark on the item 104. There may be one or more authorizedpossessors for the item 104.

The scanning device 108 may be any type of device configured to scan anitem, such as the item 104, for an identifying watermark. Examples ofsuch scanning devices include cellular telephones and other mobiledevices, optical scanning devices (e.g., code readers, etc.), wearabletechnology (e.g., computing devices with optical head-mounted displays,computerized wristwatches, wearable cameras, etc.), cameras, and tabletcomputers and other computing devices. Other examples of scanningdevices include computing systems integrated with or in communicationwith mounted security cameras and/or mobile (e.g., mounted on an aerialdrone) video cameras. In some embodiments, watermarks are opticallyscannable (e.g., a plaid pattern on a scarf). For such embodiments, thescanning device 108 may have an image sensor or other optical scanningcomponent.

For verifying the genuineness of the item, such an image sensor of thistype may capture an image of at least a portion of the item 104containing the item 104 or otherwise capture identifying data about theitem 104 from scanning its watermark. The scanning device 108 may scanthe captured image for the watermark to obtain identifying data aboutthe item 104 and upload the identifying data about the item to thedistributed computing systems 112 of the authenticity verificationservice 106 for verification. Alternatively, the scanning device mayupload identifying data about the item 104 obtained from scanning itswatermark to the distributed computing systems 112 of the authenticityverification service 106. Alternatively, the scanning device may uploadat least a portion of the image to the distributed computing systems 112of the authenticity verification service 106 containing enough of thewatermark such that the distributed computing systems 112 may scan thecaptured image for the watermark to obtain identifying data about theitem 104 for verification.

In other embodiments, watermarks include an audible component. Forexample, the item 104 may emit a particular tone when tapped or struck,or, such as with a speaker, may produce a pattern of sound detectable bya microphone of the scanning device 108 but may be imperceptible tounaugmented human senses because it is outside the frequency range ofhuman hearing. Similarly, the watermark may comprise one or more otherelectronically detectable components. For example, the item 104 may beproduced with a variable combination of materials at least some of whosemolecules may be detectible by a set of chemosensors in the scanningdevice 108, and the watermark may be based at least partially ondetected levels of such molecules. Hence, watermarks may be comprised ofany of the types of detectable identifying markers (e.g., opticallydetectable, audibly detectable, molecularly detectable, etc.) or anycombination thereof, and consequently, the scanning device 108 may beconfigured to detect any or all of the types of watermarks described inthe present disclosure.

The authenticity verification service 106 may be a service of acomputing resource service provider for providing registration andauthenticity verification services for products of vendors and trademarkholders. For example, a plurality of items may be authorized forproduction by a trademark holder, but each item of the plurality ofitems may be produced with a watermark that particularly distinguishesthat item from other items of the plurality of items. Thisdistinguishing watermark may then be registered with the authenticityverification service 106 along with an identity of its owner oridentities of authorized possessors. In some examples, an “authorizedpossessor” may refer to an individual who is authorized by the owner ofthe item 104 and/or by the holder of the item 104 trademark to have theitem 104 in his/her possession. As an example, an individual maycomplete a transaction with a trademark holder to produce the item 104.The individual may consequently be registered with the authenticityverification service as, by virtue of being the owner of the produceditem, being an authorized possessor of the item 104. In this example,the individual may also, in agreement with the trademark holder,register one or more members of his/her family (e.g., wife, husband,children, etc.) as also being authorized to possess the item 104. Inthis manner, the individual and the registered family members may berecognized as authorized possessors when verifying whether the possessor102 of the item 104 is an authorized possessor.

In some implementations, authorized possessors may be registered asauthorized with an expiration date. For example, an authorized owner ofan authentic item may lend the authentic item to a neighbor for a week.In such an example, the authorized owner may register (e.g., through anapplication on a mobile telephone, through a website interface of theauthenticity verification service, etc.) the neighbor with theauthenticity verification service 106 as an authorized possessor onlyfor the next seven days. Thereafter, the authenticity verificationservice 106 may consider the neighbor to be unauthorized to possess theitem, for example, by deleting or disabling the neighbor from a list ofauthorized possessors. Additionally or alternatively, in someimplementations, possessorship may be accompanying by a duration orexpiration date. In such implementations, a possessor may no longer beconsidered authorized if the current date/time is beyond the date orduration for which the possessor was authorized to possess the item.Thus, the system may have multiple individuals simultaneously registeredas authorized to possess the item (e.g., all family members of ahousehold may be authorized to possess the item, or through lending,both the lender and borrower may be authorized possessors, etc.).

In some embodiments, the authenticity verification service 106 tracks achain of transactions and updated authorized possessors. For example,the item 104 may be sold to a neighbor of the owner, and thattransaction (generally, the change in a right to possess) may berecorded by the authenticity verification service 106 (e.g., through anapplication provided by the authenticity verification service for amobile device of the initial authorized owner, etc.) and the neighbormay be updated as the new authorized possessor. Later, the neighbor maydonate the item 104 to a thrift store, which may then be updated as theauthorized possessor (e.g., through a computer or terminal at the thriftstore in communication with the authenticity verification service), andthe previous owner may be removed, disabled, or deleted from the list ofauthorized possessors. Still later, the thrift store may sell the item104 to another party, who may then be recorded as the newowner/authorized possessor of the item 104.

The data store 110 may be a database of the authenticity verificationservice configured to store registration information for authentic,authorized items. Such registration information may include informationsuch as watermark information for uniquely identifying the item 104, thetype of item, an identity of an on-demand manufacturing device used toproduce the item 104, a timestamp indicating the time at which the item104 was produced and/or registered, location information indicating alocation where the item 104 was produced, and other such information.The data store 110 may also be configured to store registrationinformation about authorized possessors of such authentic, authorizeditems. The data store 110 may also be configured to track chains ofownership/possession (e.g., when an authorized item is traded, gifted,or sold to new authorized possessors).

The distributed computing system 112 may comprise multiple computersystems and services working in concert to provide an authenticityverification service for customers of a computing resource serviceprovider. In some cases, the distributed computing system 112 may beconfigured to receive input and provide output through one or moreinterfaces, such as application programming interfaces for registeringitems, registering authorized possessors, verifying items and/orpossessors, and tracking chains of ownership/possession, to thecustomers of the computing resource service provider. The distributedcomputing system 112 may be in communication with the data store 110,and may provide the aforementioned registration and chain ofownership/possession information to the data store 110 for storage andmay make requests to the data store 110 to retrieve the storedinformation.

The response 114 may be a response provided to the scanning device 108from the distributed computing system 112 as a result of a request fromthe scanning device 108 to verify the authenticity of the item 104and/or the authorized possessor of the item 104. In some embodiments,such a response includes data received by the scanning device 108 thatindicates, in the positive, statuses to the effect that, the item isgenuine, the item is owned by Person A and/or Person A is authorized topossess an item that matches the genuine item. In the negative, theresponse may be data received by the scanning device 108 that indicatesstatuses to the effect that, the item is not genuine, the item could notbe recognized as a registered item, unable to locate/decipher awatermark on the item, the possessor is not recognized, and thepossessor is not an authorized possessor of the item. In someembodiments, where the possessor is not recognized as an authorizedpossessor of the item 104, is recognized as a known unauthorizedpossessor of the item 104 (e.g., a thief of the item 104), or the item104 is recognized as a forgery (e.g., item 104 produced withoutpermission or an unauthorized copy of the item 104), the authenticityverification service 106 may be configured to additionally send an alertto appropriate authorities (e.g., police, the trademark holder, customs,etc.). In other embodiments, the scanning device 108 is configured tosend such alerts instead of the authenticity verification service 106.

Statuses and messages may be relayed to the bearer of the scanningdevice 108 in a variety of ways, including audible messages, audiblebeeps and tones, message windows, text messages, e-mails, and graphicalindicators. For example, a heads-up display of a wearable computingdevice may update its screen with augmented reality (e.g., text orgraphic overlays) indicating whether the item is or is not genuineand/or whether the possessor is or is not an authorized possessor. As amore specific example, a scanned handbag may appear to glow golden onthe display screen if it is confirmed to be genuine, or may appear redand blinking if it could not be confirmed to be genuine.

In still other embodiments, the authenticity verification service 106tracks detection of genuine and not genuine items, but may not send anyalerts. This information may later be offered by the authenticityverification service 106 to the trademark holders or other customers formarketing purposes. For example, over a particular period, theauthenticity verification service 106 may track many counterfeit redhandbags of a particular brand. The company owning the particular brandmay find value in learning that those particular red handbags are inhigh demand and may adjust marketing and/or pricing strategies to combatcounterfeiters and sell additional genuine red handbags. Similarly, thecompany may learn that, even though it sold a large number of genuinegreen handbags, that only a low number of them have actually been seenin public, and, based on the information, the company may performadditional research to determine why its customers are leaving theirgreen handbags at home.

In some embodiments, the authenticity verification service 106 providesinformation to authorized requesting parties about who has beenregistered with a particular item. For example, the authenticityverification service 106 may act as a registration database for ownersand possessors of firearms that have been produced with athree-dimensional printer. As an alternative example, a bowling ballvendor may obtain a list of registered possessors of a particular brandof bowling bag in a particular area for purposes of marketing their lineof bowling balls to the possessors.

In some implementations, the authenticity verification service may keeptrack of (i.e., count) how many different unauthorized possessors aparticular item has been detected in the possession of Such detectionmay indicate that unauthorized copies of a particular item are beingmade, and if the count of unauthorized possessors for the particularitem exceeds a threshold, the authenticity verification service maynotify law enforcement to investigate the registered owner of theparticular item to determine the source of the probably unauthorizedcopies.

Similarly, if a particular watermark is known to be associated withunauthorized copies (i.e., counterfeit) items (for example, if customsofficials seize a crate of counterfeit items with the same watermark, orif an item or blueprint with a particular watermark is reported asstolen), the authenticity verification service can be notified (e.g.,through a website interface) and caused to tag the watermark as beingvoid or associated with stolen items. Such items, including theoriginal, when scanned thereafter, may cause the authenticityverification service to alert appropriate authorities (e.g., customs,trademark holder, bearer of the scanning device) that the items areassociated with illegal activities (i.e., unauthorized reproduction ofthe item).

As noted, in some embodiments, analysis of the watermark to obtainidentifying data for the item 104 is performed by the scanning device108. In other embodiments, such analysis of the watermark is performedby computing systems of the authenticity verification service 106. Inthis manner, verification may take advantage of remote compute powerwhile minimizing resource usage of the scanning device 108. Also asnoted, in some embodiments, the scanning device 108 is configured tonotify proper authorities (e.g., police, the trademark holder, owner,authorized possessor, etc.) when counterfeit items or unauthorizedpossessors are detected. In some alternative embodiments, theauthenticity verification service 106 is configured to notify the properauthorities. In still other embodiments, the scanning device 108 and/orauthenticity verification service 106 is only configured to notify theuser of the scanning device 108 whether the item 104 is authentic and/orwhether the possessor 102 in an authorized possessor.

As noted, the scanning device 108 may, as its notification, implementvarious graphics and/or text on a display screen of the scanning device108. Additionally, or alternatively, the scanning device 108 may send anotification message as a text message, an e-mail, or message in a popupwindow. Additionally or alternatively, the scanning device 108 may tag acaptured image of the item 104 and its possessor 102 with one or morelabels (e.g., such as, “Person A with a genuine Company X handbag!” withan arrow pointing to the item). The scanning device 108 may subsequentlyallow the tagged image to be uploaded to one or more social mediaInternet sites for friends of Person A to marvel at.

As an example of use of the present embodiment, Person A sees a friend,Person B, carrying a product with a well-known trademark of Company X.Person A wishes to confirm that the trademarked product is really agenuine product of Company X, and captures an image of the product witha scanning device (e.g., a mobile telephone with a built-in camera) anduploads the image to the authenticity verification service 106. Theauthenticity verification service 106 determines a watermark from theuploaded image, determines the identity of the product from thewatermark, performs its verification operations, and responds to thescanning device. In one scenario, the scanning device might respondwith, “The product is a genuine Company X brand product.” In anotherscenario, the scanning device might respond with, “The product is not areal Company X product.”

In still another scenario, the scanning device might respond with anidentity of the authorized possessor, such as, “This product isregistered to Person C.” In some cases, the scanning device 108 and/orauthenticity verification service 106 may be unable to differentiatebetween an original product and an exact copy (i.e., that exactlyreproduces the watermark 118 of the original product). In such a case,the exact copy would still be identified as being registered to theowner/possessor of the original product. In this manner, investigationsinto locating the distribution source of unauthorized products may beaided. Likewise, if the original product is stolen, the original productmay be scanned and the original owner/possessor determined. In thismanner, recovery of stolen property may also be aided.

Items produced by three-dimensional printers (i.e., printers thatfabricate three-dimensional objects), computerized sewing machines, andother on-demand manufacturing devices may appear to be of such highquality that they may not be easily distinguishable from the genuinearticles they appear to be. For example, a counterfeit item may beproduced on a consumer on-demand manufacturing device in the home of anindividual and may even be produced to include a well-known namebrand/trademark on the item. The counterfeit item may be of such highquality that a human and/or untrained eye may be unable to discern whichitem is the genuine one and which is counterfeit. As another example,some manufacturers or trademark holders may provide consumers withblueprints for producing authorized articles with consumer on-demandmanufacturing devices. However, such blueprints may be stolen and/orused to produce exact copies of the authorized articles in excess ofwhat was intended by the manufacturer or trademark holder.

FIG. 2 illustrates an aspect of an environment 200 in which anembodiment may be practiced to ensure that authorized articles may beregistered and identified as genuine. As illustrated in FIG. 2, theenvironment 200 may include an on-demand manufacturing device 216 whichmay be used to produce a particular item 204 according to a blueprint220 or other instruction. The on-demand manufacturing device 216 of thepresent disclosure may itself be configured, through hardware orsoftware, to produce a watermark 218 unique to the particular item 204or may be caused to produce the watermark 218 by instructions in theblueprint 220. The watermark 218 may be registered in a data store 210of an authenticity verification service 206 by either the on-demandmanufacturing device 216 or the trademark holder providing datadescribing the watermark 218 to distributed computing systems 212 of theauthenticity verification service 206. In some implementations,registration of the watermark 218 may include a digital signature, suchas a digital signature of the on-demand manufacturing device 216, whichmay confirm that the watermark 218 is being registered by an authorizeddevice.

The blueprint 220, which may also be referred to as a three-dimensional(3D) model, may be a file in electronic format configured to instructthe on-demand manufacturing device 216 on how to produce the particularitem 204 and its watermark 218. In many cases, the blueprint 220 may begenerated by a product vendor or trademark holder for a trademark of theparticular item 204, and may be made available to customers for free orupon completion of a purchase transaction for the particular item 204.The blueprint 220 may be provided to the on-demand manufacturing device216 by such a customer through transmission of the blueprint 220 from acomputing system through a network or direct connection, or may beprovided to the on-demand manufacturing device 216 throughcomputer-readable media, such as a universal serial bus flash drive.

In some embodiments, the blueprint 220 may be generated by the productvendor or trademark holder with the watermark 218 information specificto the particular item 204 already pre-registered with the authenticityverification service 206 prior to receipt of the blueprint 220 by theon-demand manufacturing device. In other embodiments, the blueprint 220contains instructions for generating the watermark 218 specific to theparticular item 204, and the watermark 218 information may be registeredwith the authenticity verification service 206 (e.g., by the on-demandmanufacturing device 216) at a time when or after the particular item204 is produced. In still other embodiments, the on-demand manufacturingdevice 216 itself is configured to generate the watermark 218 specificto the particular item 204 and register the watermark 218 informationwith the authenticity verification service 206.

The on-demand manufacturing device 216 may be a device configured toproduce one or more items of the types of the item 204. Examples of sucha device includes a three-dimensional printer, a computerized sewingmachine, a computerized loom or other computerized textile-producingmachine. Materials usable by the on-demand manufacturing device 216 toproduce the item 204 may include one or more of plastics and polymers(e.g., acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polylactic acid, polyvinylalcohol, polycarbonate, high density poly ethylene, etc.), metals (e.g.,steel, aluminum, titanium, gold, silver, etc.), ceramics, paper,plaster, wood, organic (e.g., tissue, cells, etc.), food (e.g.,chocolate, gelatin, milk, fruit puree, sodium alginate, etc.), naturalfibers (cotton, linen, silk, wool, hemp, etc.), synthetic fibers(polyester, nylon, rayon, etc.), concrete, and composites. The on-demandmanufacturing device 216 may be configured to receive and interpret theblueprint 220 in order to produce the particular item 204 and thewatermark 218. In some cases, the on-demand manufacturing device 216 maybe configured to communicate to the distributed computing systems 212 ofthe authenticity verification service 206, such as through the Internetor other network, in order to register the particular item 204 (and itswatermark 218) with the authenticity verification service 206 as anauthentic item.

In some embodiments, the on-demand manufacturing device 216 has its ownidentifier that distinguishes it from other on-demand manufacturingdevices. In these embodiments, watermarks may be generated based on acombination of an identifier for the particular item 204 and theon-demand manufacturing device 216 identifier. In this manner, theon-demand manufacturing device 216 used to produce the particular item204 may be determined from the watermark 218. Additional information mayalso be encoded into the watermark 218, such as a location (e.g.,obtained from global positioning system location information or otherlocation information) indicating a location where the particular item204 was produced and/or timestamp representing a time when theparticular item 204 was produced and/or registered.

As with item 104 of FIG. 1, the particular item 204 may be any type ofitem that may be manufactured/produced to have a watermark or otheridentifying characteristic that distinguishes the particular item 204from all other items. For example, though depicted in FIG. 2 as anarticle of clothing, the particular item 204 could be any of a varietyof items, including a statue, a toy, office equipment (e.g., stapler,tape dispenser, etc.), vehicle part, orthopedic cast, piece of artwork,dining flatware, phonograph record, and audio component (e.g.,headphones, speakers, etc.).

As with the authenticity verification service 106 of FIG. 1, theauthenticity verification service 206 may be a service provided by acomputing resource service provider to trademark holders and theircustomers for registering and verifying authentic items. For example,trademark holders may subscribe to the authenticity verification service206, which may then permit authentic products of the trademark holder tobe registered with the authenticity verification service 206. Otherindividuals may be provided application programming interfaces forcommunicating to the distributed computing systems 212 of theauthenticity verification service 206. For example, customers of thetrademark holder and/or the authenticity verification service 206 maycommunicate registration information to the authenticity verificationservice 206, such as through an application programming interfaceaccessible via the on-demand manufacturing device 216, for registeringparticular items produced.

In some embodiments, if the particular item 204 or its blueprints arestolen, the owner of the particular item 204 or blueprints may be ableto, through an application programming interface of the authenticityverification service 206, report the theft of the particular item 204 orblueprints. Thereafter, if the authenticity verification service 206 isever requested to verify the authenticity of the particular item 204,the authenticity verification service 206 may respond indicating thatthe particular item 204 is stolen or may perform other appropriateaction (e.g., notifying law enforcement, tracking the time, place, andlocation, etc.). In some implementations where the particular item 204is reported by its owner as being lost or stolen, the trademark holderor the authenticity verification service 206 may issue or authorize thecreation of a new watermark and/or blueprints for the owner such thatthe owner can produce a replacement for the lost or stolen particularitem.

Other users may subscribe to the authenticity verification service 206and be allowed to download applications for mobile devices for them tooperate as a scanning device for scanning items, such as the scanningdevice 108 of FIG. 1. As noted, the particular item 204 and itsauthorized possessors may be registered by storing such registrationinformation in the data store 210 of the authenticity verificationservice 206. The data store 210 comprise a database or set of files onone or more computer-readable media drives and, in some implementations,may be distributed over multiple computer systems of the authenticityverification service 206. The watermark may be directly or indirectlyregistered in association with one or more authorized possessors. Forexample, the watermark 218 may be directly registered in the data store210 in a one-to-one relationship with the particular item 204, and thewatermark may be indirectly associated in a separate table of the datastore 210 in a one-to-many relationship with one or more authorizedpossessors. The data store 210 may also track information about thechain of ownership/possession of the particular item 204 (e.g., who theparticular item was bought, lent, leased, gifted, from and/or to, etc.).

The watermark 218 may be constructed to uniquely identify the particularitem 204. That is, no two items should have the same watermark. Thewatermark 218 may be constructed such that a scanning device, such asthe scanning device 108 of FIG. 1, may scan the watermark 218 and decodethe scanned data into a format that can be matched to the particularitem 204 registered with the authenticity verification service 206 inthe data store 210. For example, the colored threads of an article ofclothing may be scanned vertically and/or horizontally in a similarmanner as a barcode reader scans a barcode. That is, different colors ofthreads, spacing between certain threads or thread colors, threadthicknesses, thread combinations, thread weave (e.g., howthreads/fabrics are intertwined, spaced, etc.), thread reflectivity,stitch lengths, stitch spacing, and stitching patterns, whether threadsare horizontal, vertical, or at particular angles to other threads.However, even if watermarks of two items of the same type are comparedand differences are found, the watermarks may not be readable to anindividual; that is, the meaning behind the differences (i.e., how thedifferences translate to different values for the item identifiers inthe data store 210) may not be apparent.

Additionally or alternatively, the watermark 218 may comprise particularor special filaments. These filaments may be detectable under certainlighting conditions and may be designed to be detectable by a scanningdevice such as the scanning device 108 of FIG. 1. For instance, thewatermark may include one or more features that are only detectableunder ultraviolet or infrared light spectra. In order to capture thesefeatures for verifying the authenticity of the particular item 204, thescanning device may be configured to project ultraviolet or infraredlight, as needed, to capture these unique features of the particularitem 204. All of these examples may represent different values, orvarious combinations of the above may represent different values. As anexample, a thin, vertical, red thread located between two thicker whitethreads may represent a value of thirty. Similarly, a blue thread thatintersects the red thread at a forty-five degree angle and at a pointfive millimeters below a horizontal green thread may represent a valueof four. Taken together, the two threads may represent a value ofthirty-four in an identifier for the item having the watermark.

Furthermore, in many embodiments, the watermark 218 is constructed notto be readily distinguishable as a watermark by human senses. That is,the watermark 218 itself may be a design integrated as part of the lookof the particular item 204. As another example, the watermark 218 may beintegrated into a portion of a design of the particular item 204 (e.g.,a section of the particular item 204 may have threads that arepositioned and/or colored such that they blend into the design of theparticular item). Without comparing the particular item with anotherparticular item, it may not be readily apparent to an individual wherethe watermark 218 is or what characteristics are part of the watermark218. Furthermore, even if two items of the same type are compared anddifferences in characteristics concerning their watermarks are found(e.g., a distance between a white thread and a red thread on a firstitem is farther than on those equivalent threads on the second item),the meaning behind the differences (i.e., how the differences translateto different values for the item identifiers associated with theparticular items in the data store 210) may not be apparent. However,such differences may be detected and translated by a scanning device orauthenticity verification service. Thus, in this manner, even variationsof characteristics that may be perceptible to an unaugmented human eyemay still be unreadable by an individual but readable by a computingdevice.

In other words, the watermark may be effected (or effectuated) byvariations of one or more physical characteristics (e.g., size, color,spacing, dimensions, thickness, etc.) of materials integral to orintegrated into the composition (e.g., arrangement, configuration,structure, design, appearance, etc.) of the item. In other words, theon-demand manufacturing device 216 can produce a different watermark foreach item it manufactures by varying, in one or more ways, any of avariety of physical characteristics of the item in such a way that thewatermark 218 appears to be a constituent part of the design orstructure of item itself. Additionally or alternatively, the particularitem 204 may have a watermark that is comprised of audio characteristics(e.g., a unique tone when tapped or struck). The watermark 218 may haveregions of one or more colors that are near in the color spectrum to oneor more other colors of the particular item 204 such that, the regionsof one or more colors appear to the human eye to be the same color asthe one or more other colors, but to a scanning device aredistinguishable. The watermark 218 may also be a combination of any ofthe aforementioned. The watermark 218 for each different particular itemmay be varied such that no two watermarks 218 are the same. In theseembodiments, the watermark 218 should still be detectable throughanalysis of data, such as by a scanning device or computing systems ofthe authenticity verification service 206, obtained by a scanningdevice.

Other factors that may be used in a watermark include designs andpatterns (e.g., a particular arrangement of paisley, pictograms,hieroglyphs, fleur-de-lis shapes, plaid patterns, etc.), shapes (e.g.,circles, ovoids, triangles, squares, hexagons, rectangles, irregularshapes, etc.) and other shape information properties (e.g., size, color,number of edges, lengths of edges, rotational symmetry, etc.), volume,height, width, and length. The watermark 218 may be designed such that ascanning device, such as the scanning device 108 of FIG. 1, may be ableto recognize the watermark 218 from a variety of angles, orientations,and perspectives. For example, there may be detectible markings for eachwatermark that may be used (e.g., positional relationship of themarkings to each other, whether certain markings appear larger thanother markings (indicating proximity to the scanning device), etc.) todetermine the correct orientation of the watermark 218. Errorcorrection, such as Reed-Solomon error correction, may then be appliedto the watermark 218 until the watermark 218 may be correctlyinterpreted.

Colors having significance in a watermark may not be limited to colorsor combinations of colors of the visible spectrum. For example, anidentifier for the particular item 204 may be derived based at least inpart on infrared and ultraviolet colors of components of the particularitem. Likewise, thermal properties of the item may be detectible by ascanning device in a manner significant to the watermark 218. Forexample, materials in a piece of clothing may look the same but may, infact, have different thicknesses and/or thermal insulative properties,such that when worn, body heat of the wearer may be emitted in patternsnot perceptible (e.g., not visible) with the unaugmented human eye butmay be discernable with a scanning device that can detect infrared. Insome examples, “unaugmented” human senses may refer to human vision(sight), auditory perception (sound), olfaction (smell), gustation(taste), and tactile perception (touch) without aid (e.g.,magnification, filtering, signal processing, image processing, etc.)from external or internal devices (e.g., optical lenses, ear trumpets,electronic devices, magnetic implants, etc.). In some examples, thequality of being “imperceptible” to unaugmented human senses may referto elements that are beyond the limits of being sensed by suchunaugmented human senses (e.g., sounds at levels too low to hear,frequencies outside the range of human hearing, marks too small todistinguish with the naked eye, differences in thickness too small todistinguish with the naked eye, ultraviolet and infrared spectra,different colors that appear to be identical to the human eye, etc.).Similarly, the polarization of light emitted or reflected from portionsof the watermark may have significance. Furthermore, there may bedifferent color shades so close to each other as to be indiscernible tothe human eye, but may be distinguishable (e.g., as infrared patterns)by a scanning device, such as the scanning device 108 of FIG. 1, and maybe used in the watermark 218. For example, a series of threads mayappear to the human eye to be the same color of red thread, but may, infact, differ in shade to a degree detectable by the scanning device andthe detectible differences may be used to determine the unique value ofthe watermark.

The watermark may, in whole or in part, include characters, glyphs, orother shapes that are imprinted, etched, impressed, or intermingled withthe particular item 204 in a manner too small to be readable with theunaided/unaugmented human eye (e.g., without a magnifying glass,microscope, or electronic device) but may be readable by a scanningdevice, such as the scanning device 108 of FIG. 1. The watermark may bea quick response code, series of alphanumeric characters or otherglyphs, or a barcode on a tag or area of the particular item 204. Insome cases, the watermark may comprise a naturally occurring pattern ofa material used in the construction of the particular item 204. Forexample, the pattern of quill follicles in ostrich leather, texture ofleather, or a pattern of wood grain in products that contain any ofthose materials may act as a “fingerprint” for the product and may beused to uniquely distinguish the product from other products.

Note too that the watermark need not only have optical properties. Forexample, a speaker may have, as at least a portion of its watermark,unique audible characteristics, such as emitting certain sounds duringoperation that are outside the frequency range audible to the human ear.Another example that may be used as a watermark or as a component of awatermark is acoustic resonance. For example, an acoustic resonancefrequency of an item may be affected by the types and arrangement ofmaterials in the construction of the particular item 204, and thesetypes and arrangement of materials may be varied to vary a certainfrequency emitted by the particular item 204 when tapped.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a process 300 forproducing an item with a watermark in accordance with variousembodiments. The process 300 may be performed by any suitable systemsuch as the on-demand manufacturing device 216 of FIG. 2 or anyelectronic client device such as the electronic client device 702described in conjunction with FIG. 7. The process 300 includes a seriesof operations wherein a blueprint is used to produce a particular itemwith an identifying watermark, and the particular item, its identifyingwatermark, and its authorized possessors are registered with anauthenticity verification service.

In 302, the system performing the process 300 obtains a blueprintcontaining instructions for producing an item. In some embodiments, thisblueprint is an electronic file, such as a text file, eXtensible MarkupLanguage file, or file with executable instructions, that provideinstructions to a manufacturing device on how to produce the item. Theblueprint may contain identifying information unique to the particularitem being produced according to the blueprint, and this identifyinginformation may be used at least in part to generate an identifyingwatermark for the particular item. Thus, in some embodiments theidentifying information can be registered with an authenticityverification service in conjunction with the creation of the blueprint.In other embodiments, the identifying information can be registered inconjunction with producing the particular item in accordance with itsblueprint. In some of these embodiments, other information, such asidentifying information/metadata for the manufacturing device (e.g.,serial number of the device, secret private key of the device, etc.),identifying information of an authorized possessor/owner, location ofmanufacture information, information indicating the type of particularitem (e.g., handbag, scarf, shoes, action figure, etc.), and/ortimestamp information is factored into generating and registering thewatermark. That is, in some embodiments, such information is stored asregistration information with the watermark. In other embodiments, suchinformation is used to generate the watermark itself (e.g., a particularstitching pattern may represent a time, such as 8:51 PM, at which theparticular item was manufactured, or an arrangement of shapes mayrepresent a location, such as Paris, France, where the particular itemwas manufactured).

In 304, the system performing the process 300 may receive a request toproduce the particular item according to the blueprint obtained in 302.As noted, in some implementations, the particular item may be an itemproduced by a three-dimensional printer. The particular item may beproduced to comprise a variety of materials (e.g., plastics, ceramics,metals, etc.). In other implementations, the particular item may be anitem produced by a textile-manufacturing machine, such as a computerizedloom or sewing machine.

In 306, the manufacturing device may produce the particular item with anidentifying watermark as described in the present disclosure. Forexample, the particular item may be a handbag produced to have aparticular plaid pattern whose threads (e.g., color, location,orientation, thickness, distance from other threads, etc.) act as awatermark to distinguish that handbag from all other handbags. Forexample, the seller of the blueprint for the handbag may be a trademarkholder who sells the blueprint to a customer to produce that particularhandbag. The agreement between the seller and the customer may restrictthe customer to only producing one handbag, and the blueprint may bepre-generated to have information for producing the watermark only forthat particular handbag. Consequently, in some implementations, theblueprint may be configured to disable or delete itself after itsparticular item is produced/manufactured. In other implementations, theagreement between the seller and the customer may include authorizationto produce multiple items. In some of these implementations, theblueprint may be generated by the seller to include information forproducing multiple one-use watermarks for the items being produced.

In 308, the watermark for the particular item may be registered with anauthenticity verification service. Registration for the particular itemmay include storing, in one or more data stores of the authenticityverification service, identifying information for the particular itemthat may be derived from scanning the watermark of the particular item.In embodiments, once a particular item is registered with theauthenticity verification service, another item may not be registeredwith the same watermark. However, in some embodiments, the agreementbetween the seller and the customer can, under certain conditions, allowduplicate items to be produced to share the same watermark, such as inthe event the original item is destroyed and a replacement item isneeded.

As noted, in some embodiments, registration of the particular item andits watermark is performed by the authenticity verification service at atime when the blueprint for the particular item is generated. In otherembodiments, registration of the particular item and its watermarkoccurs when the particular item is produced, such as through a requestinitiated by the manufacturing device to the authenticity verificationservice. For example, based on information about the type of objectbeing produced (e.g., purse, pair of pants, bowling ball, etc.), anauthenticity verification service may select a watermark location (i.e.,where the watermark will be located on the object) and format of thewatermark from a set of possible watermark locations and formatsappropriate for the type of object. An item identifier may be generatedto uniquely identify the item, and, in some embodiments, additionalmetadata, such as an identity of the on-demand manufacturing device,timestamp, and/or manufacturing location, may be factored into thegeneration of the item identifier. In some of these embodiments, theauthenticity verification service factors some or all of the additionalmetadata into production of the item identifier (e.g., the blueprint maybe generated only for use by a particular registered on-demandmanufacturing device). In others of these embodiments, the authenticityverification service may provide a portion of the item identifier to theon-demand manufacturing device, and the on-demand manufacturing devicemay be configured to combine the portion of the item identifier withmetadata (e.g., such as a serial number of the on-demand manufacturingdevice and a timestamp) to yield the complete item identifier.

The item identifier may then be integrated with the particular item asthe watermark in the appropriate form and location. In other words, theitem identifier values may be converted into physical characteristics(e.g., shapes, colors, patterns, etc.) as described in the presentdisclosure, which may then be integrated into the composition of theobject as it is produced by the on-demand manufacturing device. In someembodiments, registration may occur at a time when the authenticityverification service generates the item identifier. In otherembodiments, such as in some embodiments where the on-demandmanufacturing device factors in additional metadata, such as its ownidentity or a timestamp, or where the on-demand manufacturing devicedetermines characteristics of the watermark, such as a location of whereto place the watermark, into the generation of the item identifier,registration may occur after or during production of the object. Forexample, the on-demand manufacturing device may communicate to theauthenticity verification service with information for registering theitem identifier/watermark. In still other embodiments, after theparticular item is produced, the owner or other authorized possessor mayscan the watermark with a scanning device, such as the scanning device108 of FIG. 1, which can then communicate the scanned information to theauthenticity verification service to register the itemidentifier/watermark in association with the object.

Finally, in 310, the owner and/or other authorized possessors may beregistered with the authenticity verification service. Note that theoperations of 610 may not be present in all embodiments. For example, insome embodiments, the authenticity verification service is onlyconfigured to register and verify the authenticity (i.e., genuineness)of particular items, and may be unconcerned with whether the possessorof the particular item is authorized to possess the particular item ornot. In some embodiments, only the owner, and not additional authorizedpossessors, of the particular item can be registered in connection withthe particular item. Note that one or more of the operations performedin 302-10 may be performed in various orders and combinations, includingin parallel.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a process 400 forverifying the authenticity of a particular item and its authorizedpossessor in accordance with various embodiments. The process 400 may beperformed by any suitable system such as a server in a data center,multiple computing devices in a distributed system of a computingresource service provider, or any electronic client device such as theelectronic client device 702 described in conjunction with FIG. 7. Theprocess 400 includes a series of operations wherein an image of an itemand an image of a possessor of the item is received, the image of theitem is scanned for an identifying watermark, the possessor isidentified, and the genuineness and whether the possessor is anauthorized possessor is determined based at least in part on thewatermark.

In 402, the system performing the process 400 may receive informationrelating to an item, such as a product that may be manufactured by anon-demand manufacturing device. The information may be received as acaptured image of the item or as other descriptive information that maybe analyzed for a watermark on the item. The information may be receivedfrom a scanning device, such as the scanning device 108 described inconjunction with FIG. 1. In 404, the received information may beanalyzed to locate the watermark of the item within the receivedinformation, and the located watermark may be translated intoidentifying information (e.g., an item identifier) for the item. Note,in some embodiments, the identifying information is obtained, least inpart, by the system performing the process 400 translating the watermarkinto the identifying information. In other embodiments, the identifyinginformation is obtained, least in part, from a different computingdevice or a different service than the system performing the process 400after the different computing device or different service translates thewatermark into the identifying information. Note, in some embodiments,the scanning device 108 receives the information and perform theanalysis itself, whereupon after translating the watermark, may providethe identifying information (e.g., an item identifier) to anauthenticity verification service for performance of operations 410-18.Note too, that any information provided to and from an authenticityverification service may be provided securely, such as by symmetricallyor asymmetrically encrypting the data at the sending end andappropriately decrypting the data at the receiving end.

In 406, the system performing the process 400 may determine whether ithas detected and/or identified a watermark within the informationreceived in 402. If the watermark was not detected and/or identified,the system performing the process 400 may proceed to 408, where amessage to the effect of “Product not recognized” or “Could not findwatermark; please rescan” may be displayed by a scanning device and/orsent to a scanning device. As noted, in some implementations, theoperations of 406-08 may be performed by a scanning device, and if thescanning device is able to locate and translate a watermark, thescanning device may provide the identifying information to anauthenticity verification service that may perform the operations of410-18.

If identifying information was obtained from a scanned watermark, thesystem performing the process 400 may proceed to 410, whereupon theidentifying information may be used to locate the respective item'sregistration information in a data store of the authenticityverification service. Registration information may include informationsuch as the identifying information (e.g., identifier) of the item,location where the item was manufactured, identity of the manufacturingdevice, date and time of manufacture, date and time of registration, andinformation identifying authorized owners and possessors.

In 412, the system performing the process 400 may attempt to determinean identity of the present possessor of the item. Note that possessorverification may not be present in all embodiments of the presentdisclosure, and as such, operations in 412-16 may be omitted from suchembodiments. The identity of the possessor may be obtained by scanningthe same image of the item from 402 for the presence of the possessor,such as by running the image through a facial recognition algorithm.Alternatively, a separate image of the possessor may be captured.

Other methods include scanning an audio recording for voice recognition,entering the possessor's name into the scanning device through an inputcomponent, scanning a fingerprint, or otherwise providing identifyinginformation into the scanning device or authenticity verificationservice.

In 414, the identity of the possessor may be compared against aregistered set of authorized possessors of the item in a data store ofthe authenticity verification service. If the identity of the possessordoes not match an authorized possessor, the system performing theprocess 400 may proceed to 416 and respond with a message to the effectthat, “Possessor could not be confirmed as authorized to possess theitem.” Note that in optical recognition cases, if a scanned image is ofsuch a quality that the system performing the process 400 is unable todetect the possessor, the system performing the process 400 may alsoproceed to 416, whereupon a message to the effect that “Possessor couldnot be recognized; please try again” may be displayed. Note too, that incases where the possessor is detected but not authorized, the systemperforming the process 400 may not have record of the possessor in itsdata store, and may similarly respond with “Possessor could not beverified as an authorized possessor.”

However, if the identity of the possessor does match an identity of anauthorized possessor, the system performing the process 400 may proceedto 418, whereupon a message may be displayed to the effect that, “Itemis confirmed as an authentic item. Possessor is confirmed as anauthorized possessor of the authentic item.” Note that one or more ofthe operations performed in 402-18 may be performed in various ordersand combinations, including in parallel.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a process 500 foridentifying a watermark in accordance with various embodiments. Theprocess 500 may be performed by any suitable system such as a server ina data center, multiple computing devices in a distributed system of acomputing resource service provider, the scanning device 108 of FIG. 1,or any electronic client device such as the electronic client device 702described in conjunction with FIG. 7. The process 500 includes a seriesof operations wherein an image of an item is received, the item isidentified, and its watermark is located and analyzed.

In 502, an image is received, such as from a scanning device or otherimage capture device. The image may be received in a variety of formats,including bitmap, Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), PortableNetwork Graphics (PNG), and Graphics Interchange (GIF) formats. In 504,the system performing the process 500 may scan the image to attempt torecognize one or more items/objects within the image. Objects may berecognized within the image using one or more of a variety oftechniques, such as edge matching (e.g., Canny edge detection, etc.),divide-and-conquer search, greyscale matching, gradient matching,interpretation trees, pose consistency, pose clustering, geometrichashing, scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT), and speeded up robustfeatures (SURF).

If, in 506 it is determined that no items could be identified in theimage, the system performing the process 500 may proceed to 508 whereinthe system responds with a message that no items could be located in theimage and processing terminates. Otherwise, if at least one item wasdetected in the image, the system performing the process may proceed to510, wherein the system may attempt to determine the type of itemlocated. Note that if the type of item (e.g., shirt, shoes, toy car,suitcase, wristwatch, etc.) is unable to be determined, the systemperforming the process 500 may respond with a message that the item inthe image is an unknown type of item type.

Once the type of item is determined, in 512, the system performing theprocess 500 may attempt to determine the make and/or model of the item.That is, based on shape and style of the item in the image, the systemperforming the process may be able to determine, from a data store ofexemplar items, a make and/or model of the item. Additionally oralternatively, the system performing the process 500 may also scan theregion of the image occupied by the recognized item for a particularlogo and/or perform optical character recognition on the region in orderto determine the brand and/or model of the item. As an example, the itemmay have been determined in 510 to be a jacket with a particularsquiggly logo on the right shoulder. Using such information, withreference to model or other exemplar data in a data store, the systemperforming the process 500 may determine that the jacket is a brand ofjacket by Company X. With additional reference to the data store, thesystem performing the process 500 may further determine that the jacketis a Model L Winter Jacket by Company X. Based on the informationdetermined about the item in 510-12, in 514 the system performing theprocess 500 may, with reference to a data store of a authenticityverification service, determine one or more locations where a watermarkof the type described in the present disclosure may be located on theitem and the format of the watermark (e.g., an arrangement of a pattern,threads, colors, etc.).

For example, the identifying information of Company X's Model L WinterJacket may relate to the spacing between red and white threads in theshoulder region of the jacket. Conversely, the identifying informationof Company Y's Polar Parka may relate to an arrangement of colors in aband at the waist. Such information usable for detecting andinterpreting the watermark may be stored by the authenticityverification service in a data store, and linked to the varioustrademark holders. The authenticity verification service may provide thetrademark holders with an interface, such as a personalized websitedashboard, that may be used to specify such watermark location andwatermark format information for the specific types of the trademarkholders' products. Once the location and format of the watermark isknown, in 516, the system performing the process 500 may analyze theimage for the watermark. As noted, filtering and error correctionalgorithms may be utilized on the image to render the watermark readableby the system (e.g., the item in the image may be blurry, viewed at anangle, partially obscured, etc.).

In 518, a determination may be made whether the watermark could be foundand read by the system. If the watermark on the item could not be foundand/or interpreted, the system performing the process may be proceed to520, whereupon the system performing the process 500 may respond in 520with a message that the watermark could not be found or interpreted,which may indicate that the item is not a genuine item of the type thatwould be registered with an authenticity verification service.Otherwise, if the watermark could be located and interpreted, in 522,the system performing the process 500 may respond that the item has beenidentified as an item registered as authentic with the authenticityverification service. Note that the operations of 504-22 may be repeatedfor each detected item in the image. Note also that one or more of theoperations performed in 502-22 may be performed in various orders andcombinations, including in parallel.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a process 600 forconfirming authenticity and possessorship of an item and with a scanningdevice in accordance with various embodiments. The process 600 may beperformed by any suitable system such the scanning device 108 of FIG. 1or any electronic client device such as the electronic client device 702described in conjunction with FIG. 7. The process 600 includes a seriesof operations wherein an item and its possessor is scanned, authenticityand possessor confirmation is requested from an authenticityverification service, and the results of the confirmation are displayed.

In 602, the item is scanned by a scanning device such as the scanningdevice 108 of FIG. 1. In some embodiments, the scan takes the form ofcapturing an image of the item. In some of these embodiments, the scanadditionally includes analyzing the information for a watermark andtranslating the watermark into identifying information that may be usedto locate the item in a data store of an authenticity verificationservice. Alternatively, in some embodiments, scanning the item isperformed in a manner similar to a barcode reader; for example, a plaidpattern may be scanned to detect color, thickness, position, and spacingof the threads in the pattern to glean identifying information from thepattern. Detection mechanisms may vary based on the type of watermarkutilized. For example, a scanning device may include a microphone forreceiving audible watermark data (e.g., frequency patterns, tones madeby the item when tapped or squeezed). As another example, a scanningdevice may include one or more chemosensors for detecting odors or otherchemical fingerprints emanating from the item.

In 604, the scanning device may scan, or otherwise obtain identifyinginformation of, the possessor of the item. Similar to the operations of602, in some embodiments the scanning device captures an image of thepossessor. In still other embodiments, the scanning device captures boththe item and the possessor in a single captured image. Still other typesof identifying information may be obtained about the possessor, such asvoice information, fingerprint information, and secret knowledgeinformation (e.g., username and password supplied by the possessor).

In 606, such data captured from the item and possessor may be providedto an authenticity verification service. In some embodiments, the data,such as captured images of the item and its possessor are provided tothe authenticity verification service without analysis by the scanningdevice. In other embodiments, prior to providing data to theauthenticity verification service, facial recognition analysis isperformed on data captured from the possessor and watermark analysis maybe performed on data captured from the item by the scanning device, andthe resulting data may then be supplied to the authenticity verificationservice.

In 608, the authenticity verification service may respond with averification result on the authenticity of the item based on the dataabout the item provided to the authenticity verification system by thesystem performing the process 600. Alternatively, in some embodiments,the system performing the process 600 (e.g., the scanning device)performs the authenticity verification itself (e.g., making databasequeries, comparing the present possessor against authorized possessors,etc.) in the manner described in FIG. 4. In either case, if theverification result is that the item is confirmed to not be authentic,or, alternatively, could not be confirmed to be authentic, the systemperforming the process 600 may proceed to 610 and respond with an alert(e.g., message, graphic, audible tone, etc.) indicating that the devicecould not be confirmed as authentic. In some embodiments, this alertincludes notifying proper authorities (e.g., law enforcement, trademarkholder, etc.) that an inauthentic item masquerading as an authentic itemwas detected. Such an alert may include information as to the time andplace that the inauthentic item was discovered and any informationobtained about the possessor (e.g., confirmed identity, captured images,voice patterns, etc.) of the item.

Otherwise, if the item is confirmed to be authentic, the systemperforming the process 600 may proceed to 612, whereupon information maybe received from an authenticity verification system regarding thepossessorship of the item in response to the data regarding the presentpossessor provided to the authenticity verification service by thesystem performing the process 600. Alternatively, as noted, in someembodiments the system performing the process 600 itself (e.g., thescanning device) performs the possessorship verification itself in themanner described in FIG. 4. In either case, if the result is that thepresent possessor could not be identified or if the present possessorwas identified as not being an authorized possessor, the systemperforming the process 600 may proceed to 614 and respond with an alert(e.g., message, graphic, audible tone, etc.) indicating that thepossessor could not be confirmed as an authorized possessor. In someembodiments, this alert includes notifying proper authorities (lawenforcement, trademark holder, registered owner, etc.) that a registereditem was found in the possession of an individual not authorized topossess it. Such an alert may additionally include information as to thetime and place the item was discovered in the possession of theunauthorized possessor and any information obtained about the possessor(e.g., images of the possessor, voice recordings of the possessor,etc.).

Otherwise, if the possessor was confirmed as an authorized possessor andthe item was confirmed as an authentic item, in 616, the systemperforming the process 600 may respond with a confirmation (e.g.,message, graphic, audible tone, etc.) indicating that the item isconfirmed as authentic and that the present possessor is registered asauthorized to possess the authentic item. Note that in some embodiments,possessorship is not be a feature provided by the system performing theprocess 600, and in such cases the operations of 612-14 may be omitted.Note too that one or more of the operations performed in 602-16 may beperformed in various orders and combinations, including in parallel.

Note that, unless otherwise specified, use of expressions regardingexecutable instructions (also referred to as code, applications, agents,etc.) performing operations that instructions do not ordinarily performunaided (e.g., transmission of data, calculations, etc.) in the contextof describing disclosed embodiments denote that the instructions arebeing executed by a machine, thereby causing the machine to perform thespecified operations.

FIG. 7 illustrates aspects of an example environment 700 forimplementing aspects in accordance with various embodiments. As will beappreciated, although a web-based environment is used for purposes ofexplanation, different environments may be used, as appropriate, toimplement various embodiments. The environment includes an electronicclient device 702, which can include any appropriate device operable tosend and/or receive requests, messages or information over anappropriate network 704 and, in some embodiments, convey informationback to a user of the device. Examples of such client devices includepersonal computers, cell phones, handheld messaging devices, laptopcomputers, tablet computers, set-top boxes, personal data assistants,embedded computer systems, electronic book readers, and the like. Thenetwork can include any appropriate network, including an intranet, theInternet, a cellular network, a local area network, a satellite networkor any other network and/or combination thereof. Components used forsuch a system can depend at least in part upon the type of networkand/or environment selected. Protocols and components for communicatingvia such a network are well known and will not be discussed in detail.Communication over the network can be enabled by wired or wirelessconnections and combinations thereof. In this example, the networkincludes the Internet, as the environment includes a web server 706 forreceiving requests and serving content in response thereto, although forother networks an alternative device serving a similar purpose could beused as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art.

The illustrative environment includes an application server 708 and adata store 710. It should be understood that there could be severalapplication servers, layers or other elements, processes or components,which may be chained or otherwise configured, which can interact toperform tasks such as obtaining data from an appropriate data store.Servers, as used, may be implemented in various ways, such as hardwaredevices or virtual computer systems. In some contexts, servers may referto a programming module being executed on a computer system. As used,unless otherwise stated or clear from context, the term “data store”refers to any device or combination of devices capable of storing,accessing and retrieving data, which may include any combination andnumber of data servers, databases, data storage devices and data storagemedia, in any standard, distributed, virtual or clustered environment.The application server can include any appropriate hardware, softwareand firmware for integrating with the data store as needed to executeaspects of one or more applications for the client device, handling someor all of the data access and business logic for an application. Theapplication server may provide access control services in cooperationwith the data store and is able to generate content including, text,graphics, audio, video and/or other content usable to be provided to theuser, which may be served to the user by the web server in the form ofHyperText Markup Language (“HTML”), Extensible Markup Language (“XML”),JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets (“CSS”), or another appropriateclient-side structured language. Content transferred to a client devicemay be processed by the client device to provide the content in one ormore forms including, forms that are perceptible to the user audibly,visually and/or through other senses including touch, taste, and/orsmell. The handling of all requests and responses, as well as thedelivery of content between the electronic client device 702 and theapplication server 708, can be handled by the web server using PHP:Hypertext Preprocessor (“PHP”), Python, Ruby, Perl, Java, HTML, XML, oranother appropriate server-side structured language in this example. Itshould be understood that the web and application servers are notrequired and are merely example components, as structured code discussedcan be executed on any appropriate device or host machine as discussedelsewhere. Further, operations described as being performed by a singledevice may, unless otherwise clear from context, be performedcollectively by multiple devices, which may form a distributed and/orvirtual system.

The data store 710 can include several separate data tables, databases,data documents, dynamic data storage schemes and/or other data storagemechanisms and media for storing data relating to a particular aspect ofthe present disclosure. For example, the data store illustrated mayinclude mechanisms for storing production data 712 and user information716, which can be used to serve content for the production side. Thedata store also is shown to include a mechanism for storing log data714, which can be used for reporting, analysis or other purposes. Itshould be understood that there can be many other aspects that may needto be stored in the data store, such as page image information andaccess rights information, which can be stored in any of the abovelisted mechanisms as appropriate or in additional mechanisms in the datastore 710. The data store 710 is operable, through logic associatedtherewith, to receive instructions from the application server 708 andobtain, update or otherwise process data in response thereto. Theapplication server 708 may provide static, dynamic or a combination ofstatic and dynamic data in response to the received instructions.Dynamic data, such as data used in web logs (blogs), shoppingapplications, news services and other applications may be generated byserver-side structured languages as described or may be provided by acontent management system (“CMS”) operating on, or under the control of,the application server. In one example, a user, through a deviceoperated by the user, might submit a search request for a certain typeof item. In this case, the data store might access the user informationto verify the identity of the user and can access the catalog detailinformation to obtain information about items of that type. Theinformation then can be returned to the user, such as in a resultslisting on a web page that the user is able to view via a browser on theelectronic client device 702. Information for a particular item ofinterest can be viewed in a dedicated page or window of the browser. Itshould be noted, however, that embodiments of the present disclosure arenot necessarily limited to the context of web pages, but may be moregenerally applicable to processing requests in general, where therequests are not necessarily requests for content.

Each server typically will include an operating system that providesexecutable program instructions for the general administration andoperation of that server and typically will include a computer-readablestorage medium (e.g., a hard disk, random access memory, read onlymemory, etc.) storing instructions that, when executed by a processor ofthe server, allow the server to perform its intended functions. Suitableimplementations for the operating system and general functionality ofthe servers are known or commercially available and are readilyimplemented by persons having ordinary skill in the art, particularly inlight of the disclosure.

The environment, in one embodiment, is a distributed and/or virtualcomputing environment utilizing several computer systems and componentsthat are interconnected via communication links, using one or morecomputer networks or direct connections. However, it will be appreciatedby those of ordinary skill in the art that such a system could operateequally well in a system having fewer or a greater number of componentsthan are illustrated in FIG. 7. Thus, the depiction of the exampleenvironment 700 in FIG. 7 should be taken as being illustrative innature and not limiting to the scope of the disclosure.

The various embodiments further can be implemented in a wide variety ofoperating environments, which in some cases can include one or more usercomputers, computing devices or processing devices that can be used tooperate any of a number of applications. User or client devices caninclude any of a number of general purpose personal computers, such asdesktop, laptop or tablet computers running a standard operating system,as well as cellular, wireless and handheld devices running mobilesoftware and capable of supporting a number of networking and messagingprotocols. Such a system also can include a number of workstationsrunning any of a variety of commercially available operating systems andother known applications for purposes such as development and databasemanagement. These devices also can include other electronic devices,such as dummy terminals, thin-clients, gaming systems and other devicescapable of communicating via a network. These devices also can includevirtual devices such as virtual machines, hypervisors and other virtualdevices capable of communicating via a network.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure utilize a network thatwould be familiar to those skilled in the art for supportingcommunications using any of a variety of commercially-availableprotocols, such as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol(“TCP/IP”), User Datagram Protocol (“UDP”), protocols operating invarious layers of the Open System Interconnection (“OSI”) model, FileTransfer Protocol (“FTP”), Universal Plug and Play (“UpnP”), NetworkFile System (“NFS”), Common Internet File System (“CIFS”) and AppleTalk.The network can be, for example, a local area network, a wide-areanetwork, a virtual private network, the Internet, an intranet, anextranet, a public switched telephone network, an infrared network, awireless network, a satellite network, and any combination thereof.

In embodiments utilizing a web server, the web server can run any of avariety of server or mid-tier applications, including Hypertext TransferProtocol (“HTTP”) servers, FTP servers, Common Gateway Interface (“CGI”)servers, data servers, Java servers, Apache servers, and businessapplication servers. The server(s) also may be capable of executingprograms or scripts in response to requests from user devices, such asby executing one or more web applications that may be implemented as oneor more scripts or programs written in any programming language, such asJava®, C, C# or C++, or any scripting language, such as Ruby, PHP, Perl,Python or TCL, as well as combinations thereof. The server(s) may alsoinclude database servers, including those commercially available fromOracle®, Microsoft®, Sybase®, and IBM® as well as open-source serverssuch as MySQL, Postgres, SQLite, MongoDB, and any other server capableof storing, retrieving, and accessing structured or unstructured data.Database servers may include table-based servers, document-basedservers, unstructured servers, relational servers, non-relationalservers or combinations of these and/or other database servers.

The environment can include a variety of data stores and other memoryand storage media as discussed above. These can reside in a variety oflocations, such as on a storage medium local to (and/or resident in) oneor more of the computers or remote from any or all of the computersacross the network. In a particular set of embodiments, the informationmay reside in a storage-area network (“SAN”) familiar to those skilledin the art. Similarly, any necessary files for performing the functionsattributed to the computers, servers or other network devices may bestored locally and/or remotely, as appropriate. Where a system includescomputerized devices, each such device can include hardware elementsthat may be electrically coupled via a bus, the elements including, forexample, a central processing unit (“CPU” or “processor”), an inputdevice (e.g., a mouse, keyboard, controller, touch screen or keypad),and an output device (e.g., a display device, printer or speaker). Sucha system may also include one or more storage devices, such as diskdrives, optical storage devices and solid-state storage devices such asrandom access memory (“RAM”) or read-only memory (“ROM”), as well asremovable media devices, memory cards, flash cards, etc.

Such devices also can include a computer-readable storage media reader,a communications device (e.g., a modem, a wireless or wired networkcard, an infrared communication device, etc.), and working memory asdescribed above. The computer-readable storage media reader can beconnected with, or configured to receive, a computer-readable storagemedium, representing remote, local, fixed, and/or removable storagedevices as well as storage media for temporarily and/or more permanentlycontaining, storing, transmitting, and retrieving computer-readableinformation. The system and various devices also typically will includea number of software applications, modules, services, or other elementslocated within a working memory device, including an operating systemand application programs, such as a client application or web browser.It should be appreciated that alternate embodiments may have numerousvariations from that described above. For example, customized hardwaremight also be used and/or particular elements might be implemented inhardware, software (including portable software, such as applets) orboth. Further, connection to other computing devices such as networkinput/output devices may be employed.

Storage media and computer readable media for containing code, orportions of code, can include any appropriate media known or used in theart, including storage media and communication media, such as, volatileand non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in anymethod or technology for storage and/or transmission of information suchas computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules orother data, including RAM, ROM, Electrically Erasable ProgrammableRead-Only Memory (“EEPROM”), flash memory or other memory technology,Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (“CD-ROM”), digital versatile disk (DVD)or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magneticdisk storage or other magnetic storage devices or any other medium whichcan be used to store the desired information and which can be accessedby the system device. Based on the disclosure and teachings provided, aperson of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate other ways and/ormethods to implement the various embodiments.

The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense. However, it will beevident that various modifications and changes may be made thereuntowithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention asset forth in the claims.

Other variations are within the spirit of the present disclosure. Thus,while the techniques are susceptible to various modifications andalternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof areshown in the drawings and have been described above in detail. It shouldbe understood, however, that there is no intention to limit theinvention to the specific form or forms disclosed, but on the contrary,the intention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructionsand equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the invention, asdefined in the appended claims.

The use of the terms “a,” “an,” and “the” and similar referents in thecontext of describing the embodiments (especially in the context of thefollowing claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and theplural, unless otherwise indicated or clearly contradicted by context.The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including” and “containing” are to beconstrued as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning “including, but not limitedto,”) unless otherwise noted. The term “connected,” when unmodified andreferring to physical connections, is to be construed as partly orwholly contained within, attached to or joined together, even if thereis something intervening. Recitation of ranges of values are merelyintended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually toeach separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicatedand each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if itwere individually recited. The use of the term “set” (e.g., “a set ofitems”) or “subset” unless otherwise noted or contradicted by context,is to be construed as a nonempty collection comprising one or moremembers. Further, unless otherwise noted or contradicted by context, theterm “subset” of a corresponding set does not necessarily denote aproper subset of the corresponding set, but the subset and thecorresponding set may be equal.

Conjunctive language, such as phrases of the form “at least one of A, B,and C,” or “at least one of A, B and C,” is understood with the contextas used in general to present that an item, term, etc., may be either Aor B or C, or any nonempty subset of the set of A and B and C, unlessspecifically stated otherwise or otherwise clearly contradicted bycontext. For instance, in the illustrative example of a set having threemembers, the conjunctive phrases “at least one of A, B, and C” and “atleast one of A, B and C” refer to any of the following sets: {A}, {B},{C}, {A, B}, {A, C}, {B, C}, {A, B, C}. Thus, such conjunctive languageis not generally intended to imply that certain embodiments require atleast one of A, at least one of B and at least one of C each to bepresent.

Operations of processes described can be performed in any suitable orderunless otherwise indicated or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.Processes described (or variations and/or combinations thereof) may beperformed under the control of one or more computer systems configuredwith executable instructions and may be implemented as code (e.g.,executable instructions, one or more computer programs or one or moreapplications) executing collectively on one or more processors, byhardware or combinations thereof. The code may be stored on acomputer-readable storage medium, for example, in the form of a computerprogram comprising instructions executable by one or more processors.The computer-readable storage medium may be non-transitory.

The use of any examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”)provided, is intended merely to better illuminate embodiments of theinvention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the inventionunless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should beconstrued as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to thepractice of the invention.

Embodiments of this disclosure are described, including the best modeknown to the inventors for carrying out the invention. Variations ofthose embodiments may become apparent to those of ordinary skill in theart upon reading the foregoing description. The inventors expect skilledartisans to employ such variations as appropriate and the inventorsintend for embodiments of the present disclosure to be practicedotherwise than as specifically described. Accordingly, the scope of thepresent disclosure includes all modifications and equivalents of thesubject matter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted byapplicable law. Moreover, any combination of the above-describedelements in all possible variations thereof is encompassed by the scopeof the present disclosure unless otherwise indicated or otherwiseclearly contradicted by context.

All references, including publications, patent applications, andpatents, cited are hereby incorporated by reference to the same extentas if each reference were individually and specifically indicated to beincorporated by reference and were set forth in its entirety.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:obtaining a request to produce a particular physical item; determining awatermark to operate as an identifier for the particular physical item,the watermark being producible by varying a physical characteristic thatis integrated into composition of the particular physical item in amanner that is readable by a computing device but unreadable by anindividual; producing, using a printer, both the particular physicalitem and the watermark such that the watermark is camouflaged within avisible spectrum of an exposed pattern of the particular physical item;and causing the watermark and at least one possessor to be registeredwith an authenticity verification service of a computing resourceservice provider in association with the particular physical item,thereby identifying the particular physical item as an authentic itemand identifying the at least one possessor as authorized to possess theauthentic item, at least by providing an image of the particularphysical item to the authenticity verification service, the imageincluding the watermark and usable by the authenticity verificationservice to: recognize an item type of the particular physical item inthe image; locate the watermark in the image based at least in part onthe item type of the particular physical item; identify an itemidentifier based at least in part on the watermark; and register the atleast one possessor in association with the item identifier.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the printer is a printerthat fabricates three-dimensional objects.
 3. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, further comprising: scanning, with a scanning device,the particular physical item for data about the particular physicalitem; identifying the watermark of the particular physical item from thedata; and verifying that the particular physical item is authentic basedat least in part on determining that the watermark of the particularphysical item has been registered with the authenticity verificationservice.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at leasta portion of the watermark is imperceptible to unaugmented human senses.5. A system, comprising: one or more processors; and memory includinginstructions that, as a result of execution by the one or moreprocessors, cause the system to: determine, from a particular item thathas been produced by a printer, a watermark that is comprised of one ormore variations of a set of characteristics camouflaged within a visiblespectrum of an exposed pattern of the particular item by the printer, atleast in part by causing the system to: obtain an image of theparticular item; recognize an item type of the particular item;determine watermark location information, based at least in part on theitem type; and locate the watermark in the image based at least in parton the watermark location information; determine, using the watermarkdetermined, authenticity of the particular item and authorizedpossessorship for the particular item based at least in part on thewatermark having been registered as an authentic item and at least onepossessor having been registered as authorized to possess the authenticitem; and provide an indication that the watermark corresponds to theauthentic item and an indication of possessor status of the particularitem.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the set of characteristicsincludes at least one of: sizes of one or more components of theparticular item, spacings between one or more components of theparticular item, colors of one or more components of the particularitem, or one or more patterns on the particular item.
 7. The system ofclaim 5, wherein the instructions further include instructions thatcause the system to: receive a request to update authorized possessorinformation for the particular item to indicate a particular individualas authorized to possess the particular item; and in response to therequest to update the authorized possessor information, submit, throughan application programming interface provided by an authenticityverification service, a request for the authenticity verificationservice to register the particular individual as a new authorizedpossessor for the particular item.
 8. The system of claim 5, wherein thewatermark is readable by the system but unreadable by an individual. 9.The system of claim 5, wherein the set of characteristics includecharacteristics that are imperceptible to unaugmented human senses. 10.The system of claim 9, wherein the characteristics that areimperceptible to unaugmented human senses include one or more of: acharacteristic that is only detectable under ultraviolet spectrum, acharacteristic that is only detectable under infrared spectrum, apattern that is created at least in part as a result of body heat, animpression that is too small to an unaugmented human eye to be readableunaided, or a sound that is emitted at a frequency outside a range ofunaugmented human hearing.
 11. The system of claim 5, wherein the systemis of a type selected from a group consisting of optical scanningdevices, mobile telephones with one or more image sensors, and wearablecomputing devices.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the system has adisplay that is modified to reflect the indication that the watermarkdetermined corresponds to the authentic item and the indication ofpossessor status.
 13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumhaving stored thereon executable instructions that, as a result ofexecution by one or more processors of a computer system, cause thecomputer system to at least: receive a request to determine a watermarkfor a particular item to be produced, the request including metadataabout the particular item; select a watermark format from a set ofwatermark formats based at least in part on the metadata; determine atleast a portion of an item identifier for the particular item by atleast causing the computer system to: receive an image of the particularitem; recognize an item type of the particular item in the image;determine watermark location information and watermark formatinformation for the particular item based at least in part on the itemtype of the particular item; locate the watermark in the image based atleast in part on the watermark location information; and obtain the itemidentifier based at least in part on the watermark and the watermarkformat information; register, with an authenticity verification service,the watermark in association with the particular item, the registrationproviding an indication that the particular item is an authentic item;and register, with the authenticity verification service, a set ofidentities for one or more authorized possessors of the particular item.14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13,wherein the executable instructions further include instructions thatcause the computer system to receive a request to provide an indicationwhether a present possessor is an authorized possessor, the requestincluding identifying information about the present possessor of theparticular item.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumof claim 13, wherein the watermark in the image is readable by thecomputer system but unreadable by an individual.
 16. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the particularitem is an item produced by an on-demand manufacturing device accordingto a blueprint containing instructions to the on-demand manufacturingdevice for producing the particular item with a watermark correspondingto the item identifier.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 16, wherein the on-demand manufacturing device is causedto produce the watermark for the particular item such that the watermarkis unique to the particular item.
 18. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the blueprints aregenerated by a third party to contain information for producing awatermark for the particular item that is registered with anauthenticity verification service as corresponding to the particularitem.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim17, wherein the on-demand manufacturing device is configured to generatethe watermark and register the watermark with an authenticityverification service in association with the particular item.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein thewatermark appears as a particular arrangement of a pattern on theparticular item.